This is a newsletter prepared by lawyers to advise bicyclists about the joys of riding, bicycle safety, active transportation, and cyclists’ rights. Bicycle Law is solely owned 1005 Sansome Street, Suite 330 and operated by former-Olympian- San Francisco, CA 94111 turned-lawyer Bob Mionske through his firm, The Law Office of Bob Mionske. Bob is a regular contributor to VeloNews with his Legally Speaking column, is licensed to practice in Oregon, and is regularly consulted by attorneys and cyclists nationwide regarding crashes. ROLLING CYCLING MT. SHASTA, AVOIDING DOORINGS, INSURANCE, ANDMORE AVOIDING SHASTA, MT. CYCLING ISSUE #1 ISSUE | FALL 2020 FALL RESISTANCE | VIRAL CYCLING VIRAL WHAT IS BICYCLE LAW? For those unfamiliar with us, we are lawyers working for cyclists. Founded by Olympic cyclist and national champion-turned-lawyer Bob Mionske in 2000, the organization has grown over the past two decades. We are commuters, advocates, adventurers, and enthusiasts. You can find us piloting cargo bikes with our kids — the easiest and most enjoyable way to travel with children. You can also find us in INSIDE THIS EDITION Washington, D.C. with the League of American Bicyclists, lobbying for better infrastructure. We commute, we adventure, we joy ride… Circumnavigating Mount Shasta in a day We’ve also found that the COVID-19 pandemic has created bicycle- Bike handling: Avoiding doorings specific opportunities, and issues, that need to be addressed. People have flocked to riding as a way to socially distance while commuting, Why should bicyclists have auto insurance? and as a way to get exercise. Try getting in for a bike repair, or locating (Hint: it’s all about the underinsured motorist coverage, folks!) a new bike these days, and you’ll see the impact. At the same time, road use is being re-examined. It is being reclaimed for use by people Plus other super-exciting insurance issues! instead of cars. Restaurants and businesses are setting up outdoors for (Okay — perhaps not super exciting. But important.) pandemic safety. Roads are being closed to through traffic. And don’t get us started on Paris’s two-wheeled conversion… Electric bikes’ rapid advancements continue to expand opportunities for those who want more freedom from cars with less sweat. And for those of you reading this who prefer to drive, recognize this: Every cyclist you see is someone who would otherwise be another car in your way. Give Have you or someone you know been involved in a us a friendly wave instead of a crushing car horn, even if we aren’t doing bicycle crash? Curious about your rights? Are you a lawyer everything as perfectly as you’d like (and as we up our propaganda handling a bicycle crash who wants more information on game in coming editions, we’ll educate you about the benefits of the how to get the best result for your client? Idaho stop…). Contact Bicycle Law at 866-VELOLAW. We also know that despite our best efforts, the roads are not always Bicycle Law’s Bob Mionske is licensed to practice in friendly for cyclists. Whether it be a car, a poorly maintained road, or a Oregon, its affiliate Emison Cooper & Cooper, LLP has defective product, cyclists can get injured. And when that happens, the lawyers licensed in California, and either can affiliate with lawyers Bicycle Law affiliates with are ready and willing to help. local counsel on bicycle cases across the country to make Hoping you keep the rubber side down, sure cyclists get the benefit of lawyers who focus on the Everyone at Bicycle Law issues specific to bicycle incidents. 1 MT. SHASTA, A VOLCANIC MOUNTAIN IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, commands attention as a massive presence visible from hundreds of miles away. Within its sphere of naming influence is a California county, the state’s largest reservoir, a river, a town, and BECAUSE IT’S THERE — countless businesses. Despite this, and despite all the CIRCLING MT. SHASTA IN A DAY attention paid to it by naturalists like Joaquin Miller and the Sierra Club, Mt. Shasta did not receive its national In August this year, Bicycle Law colleagues Miles and Maryanne Cooper wilderness designation until 1984. What took so long? took their kids to Mt. Shasta for some time in the wilderness before Mt. Shasta missed its opportunity to become a national park in 1916 when it was upstaged by the 1915 volcanic school started again. While there, Miles rode around the base of eruptions of its neighbor, Mt. Lassen. Because the Mt. Shasta, taking advantage of the wide network of forest service National Park Service criteria for new parks required roads. For anyone interested in following along on a map, or for the them to be unique, Mt. Lassen’s inclusion resulted in .gpx file as the foundation for doing the ride, it can be found at Mt. Shasta’s exclusion. As a result, Mt. Shasta and the www.strava.com/activities/3904027082. The following is his ride story. surrounding areas were overseen by the Department of Agriculture’s National Forest Service, also known as the United States Forest Service. The Forest Service’s mission is to “… sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests…” (emphasis added.) That word, productivity, is significant. Unlike national parks and wildernesses, national forests can be grazed and logged. What does this mean for cyclists? Extensive, unpaved road networks, mapped out in detail on publicly available USFS maps. We are typically an Eastern Sierra family, so my knowledge of the Mt. Shasta area was non-existent. As a result of our family history in Red’s Meadow (near Mammoth Lakes) and Yosemite, the east side’s stark beauty, and a bit of my own myopia, we tend to focus on destinations along Highway 395 for mountain experiences. This year was unusual, however. Perhaps an understatement for the experiences 2020 has surprised folks with thus far… So this summer we found ourselves with a few days in the Mt. Shasta area. Our friends who lent us their house left a Mt. Shasta area USFS map in a prominent location, sitting not too far from a Mt. Shasta history book. I found myself immersed in both. Mt. Shasta in August. 2 3 The map, printed on away from any help, on roads that saw no traffic. I wanted to be able to water-resistant plasticine communicate should an untoward event occur. Another benefit — the material, is fantastic for Garmin was loaded with a digital version of the USFS maps. inspiring exploration. An accomplished cyclist After some discussion and a weather consult, I arrived upon a plan that I know recently called this took the weather into account. Our trip coincided with a heat wave, and mapsterbating — and while I wanted to avoid the over-100-degree lower-elevation afternoon her term might be a tad temperatures. That meant leaving a little before 5 a.m. and running the edgy, it hits the nail on the route counterclockwise. This had the dual benefits of knocking the paved head. As I poured over the portions out during low-traffic hours as well as getting through the lower map, I could not help elevations early. The southeast portion of the route climbed to 6,000' myself from starting to and then rolled between 5,000' and 6,000', where the daytime make some rough temperature was expected to be in the far more tolerable mid-80s. calculations. Using paved I expected to be back by 2 p.m. I was to text by 3 p.m. to provide a status report if I ran behind. If Maryanne had not heard from me by Prep work. secondary roads on the north and west sides and 5 p.m. nor been able to raise me, it would then be time to send unpaved USFS roads on the south, one could circumnavigate the someone out to see why that Garmin dot was not moving. mountain. The route would be between 60 and 90 miles. These were The night before I prepared the bike. The Garmin got strapped to the rough calculations since the house we were at was in a communications handlebars. The USFS map went in the handlebar bag — because paper dead zone. No WiFi, one bar, sometimes… Normally, I use a variety of never runs low on batteries. I pumped the tubeless tires to 40 psi. The rig tools prior to hitting unfamiliar terrain. Google Maps for loose mileage was set up with Schwalbe G-One Allrounds 700 x 35s, with hydraulic disk and elevation change estimates and Google Earth flyovers to inspect brakes and a 2 x 10 drivetrain. Everyone has opinions on builds. My road conditions. opinion? Ride what makes you happy. This bike makes me happy. The Alfred Korzybski coined the phrase, “The map is not the territory,” tires were perfect for everything but a roughly one-mile soft sand/dust repeated by Robert De Niro in Ronin. Very true with USFS maps. What stretch on the east side. Yes, you could go wider on this ride. But tires appears as a road on a USFS map can sometimes be overgrown, washed required to surf the sand, for me anyways, would have been problematic. away, or simply nonexistent. The takeaway here should not be to distrust My late model rig pre-dates the wider tire era, precluding anything much USFS maps — they are pretty damn amazing. But on any off-the-beaten bigger than 35s, even with 650b wheels. path route, improvisation will be necessary. The technologic dead zone On the water front, I erred on the side of caution.